Chapter 1

In the ninth year of the apocalypse, the zombies had been mostly eradicated.

Selene Rivers wanted to find her husband to celebrate Children's Day with their son.

However, just outside the medical station of the base where her husband worked, she heard the voice of a stranger.

"Three years have passed. Selene Rivers' ability is finally ruined."

"She's truly pathetic. Married to you for so many years, yet she never realized that you, as a medical officer, could have healed her."

"You've taken your revenge on her 99 times. Why not just toss her into a zombie horde for the last time and be with Yara Vance?"

After a moment, her husband's low, cold voice replied, "Why bring this up now?"

"Yara Vance is back. We’re all waiting to drink to your wedding with her."

Selene stood frozen, her hand still on the door handle. A buzzing sound filled her ears, as if a thunderclap had exploded inside her head, shaking her so hard she could barely stand.

The man continued, "Officer Silas, don't tell me you've gone soft on her?"

Silas Thorne, who had been flipping through The Guide to Healing Abilities, paused. His gaze remained fixed on the page, his tone devoid of any emotion. "It’s not the right time yet."

Selene’s heart trembled. She couldn't help but look through the crack in the door at him.

Silas was dressed in a cold, white combat uniform, his collar buttoned to the very top, his eyes behind rimless glasses appearing incredibly frigid.

"If Yara hadn't told me the truth, I would still be in the dark, mistaking that bastard for my own flesh and blood. How could I let her off so easily?"

Selene’s throat felt as if it were blocked by something, making it difficult to even breathe.

She could no longer bear to listen and fled as if escaping a nightmare.

Yet, the conversation drifting through the door crack followed her like a shadow, every word a sharp blade, piercing her flesh and exposing a jagged, bloody wound.

……

Night deepened.

The base’s lighting cast a pale, sickly glow.

Selene rubbed her aching wrists, her heart warming slightly as she looked at her young son sitting quietly on the sofa, playing with a toy truck, his fluffy hair slightly tousled.

She forced down her emotions and gently reminded him.

"Andy, it's already midnight. You should take a bath and go to sleep."

Andy stood up, hugged her knees, and said earnestly, "I want to wait for Daddy to come home."

Hearing her son’s words, Selene felt a lump form in her throat. Acidic sorrow surged into her eyes, leaving her speechless.

The sound of a patrol vehicle approached outside.

Andy’s eyes lit up instantly. He released her legs and rushed toward the door.

His young, ringing voice filled the air: "Daddy!"

Silas, who was unbuttoning his collar, paused. He frowned, pushed the boy aside, and spoke in a cold, clear voice.

"I told you not to call me Daddy. Call me Uncle."

Selene’s face turned deathly pale. She pulled the red-eyed, bewildered boy into her arms. The warmth that had just begun to grow in her heart turned to ice instantly.

"Silas, Andy is your son. How could you…"

A flash of gloom crossed Silas’s eyes, his tone bone-chilling.

"My son? Selene, ask yourself—is he really mine?"

The harsh white light shone into his eyes, which were filled with disgust. Helplessness caused her to tremble uncontrollably, and the buried fear surfaced, wrapping around her like a living nightmare.

Years ago, she had returned from her final S-class clearance mission. During that mission, the squad encountered a high-level zombie king, and all the ability users suffered from severe mental contamination, nearing total loss of control. It was she who had forcefully unleashed a deep purification to stabilize the squad’s mental state, allowing the mission to succeed. The entire base was celebrating her heroics. Silas had promised to meet her personally to celebrate the mission’s success.

She waited in the base’s logistics department for hours. Everyone had left, and her communicator was out of power, but he never appeared.

Until there was a movement behind her—

Full of joy, she turned back, only to be dragged by a pair of hands into an empty storage room, falling into an abyss.

Disgust, fear, panic, despair…

It was a pain she would never forget for the rest of her life, a scar that would never heal.

After Silas learned the truth, she could never forget the look he gave her.

Gloomy, icy, and bone-deep hatred.

That look carved itself into her soul like a knife, becoming a persistent nightmare.

The memory of that day surfaced again. She instinctively reached out to grab his sleeve, but her hand was blocked by his cold indifference just before it touched him. Her nose stung, and tears rolled down like broken beads.

"Silas…"

Silas’s frigid gaze swept over her tears. He steadied his heaving chest, his voice raspy and thin.

"Selene, you are the one who is tainted."

Chapter 2

The man slammed the door shut, the sound echoing like a gunshot.

Selene trembled, enveloped in an overwhelming sense of sorrow, feeling utterly lonely and helpless.

Suddenly.

A warm, small body pounced onto her legs. Selene looked down at her son’s fearful, confused eyes. She knelt and hugged him tightly, hiding her fragile expression so the boy wouldn't see her tears.

The next morning.

Selene gently pushed open her son’s bedroom door, looked at the sleeping Andy, leaned down to wake him, helped him get dressed, and tenderly reminded him to drink plenty of water at the Ability Academy and to listen to his instructors.

Andy reluctantly held his teacher's hand. "Mommy, will Daddy come to watch the Ability Adaptation Performance tonight?"

Selene looked into his clear, expectant eyes, swallowing the bitterness in her throat, and didn't give a direct answer.

"Daddy is very busy… It’s getting late, sweetheart."

After a moment of hesitation, she called him back and reminded him, "Out there, don't call him Daddy…"

Selene forced a smile and signaled the orderly to start the vehicle, not daring to look at the boy's confused expression, and turned away in distress.

Selene lowered her eyes, thinking of her son’s expectant look, and still headed to the base’s medical station.

Just as she pushed open the alloy doors, she heard pharmacists gossiping about a pair of "lovebirds" in the nearby corridor.

"Look, that’s the new doctor, isn't it? She actually made the 'Ice Face' Officer Silas laugh!"

Selene looked up, her gaze fixing on the two figures at the end of the corridor, her heart filled with bitterness.

Silas had never made their relationship public at the base; only a few friends knew they were married.

They were laughing and chatting, looking like a perfect match.

Especially that look in his eyes—focused, as if Yara Vance were the only person left in his world.

Selene’s face turned even paler.

Silas’s gentle, focused expression was the very thing Selene had hungered for day and night, yet now he gave it so easily to another woman.

Yara Vance, his junior sister from before the apocalypse and his former "white moonlight."

Before the apocalypse, Selene and Silas were in the throes of first love.

Yara often interrupted their time together under the guise of asking for advice, and the man never turned her away, which had left Selene frustrated for a long time.

It wasn't until a friend couldn't stand it anymore and told her that Selene realized Yara was someone Silas had once loved. For a long time, she resisted Silas coming to see her, often feeling anxious, fearing he would change his heart back.

In college, although Silas was a bit puzzled, he wasn't as cold and indifferent as he was now; he was always patient and considerate, treating her so well…

"Hey, are you moving or what? You’re blocking the way!"

The impatient voice of a wounded patient waiting for treatment pulled Selene back to reality. She quickly stepped aside to let him pass, accidentally meeting Silas’s eyes at the end of the corridor.

The man stopped smiling, looked away coldly, and gave a faint smile to a confused Yara, his eyes clearly conveying the message:

She’s nobody to worry about.

"Wow! Officer Silas is so handsome!" The small doctors nearby giggled with envy. "Do you think he likes the new Dr. Vance? Look, he’s laughing again."

In an instant, Selene felt as if she had fallen from the clouds into the mud. The loss blocked her throat, leaving her speechless and unable to vent her emotions, forcing her to turn and leave in humiliation.

Selene waited for a long time outside the Ability Academy until Andy’s performance was about to begin, only then wiping away her tears and walking in.

When she caught sight of that familiar figure pouncing toward her, the boulder in her heart finally shifted slightly.

"Andy, Mommy came to watch your performance." Selene bent down and kissed Andy’s soft cheeks.